Manchester United will never sell Rooney

United will never sell Wayne Rooney or Old Trafford – and have put £100m in a kitty

Chief executive David Gill yesterday revealed United can still mix it in the market for the biggest players around, despite mounting concerns over the amount of debt the club are in.

Ferguson, who spent £20m in the summer and £10m last week on defender Chris Smalling, recently insisted he had money to spend.

Gill, asked if the remainder of the £80m fee for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid was available to the manager, said: “Without doubt. We used £15m to buy Antonio Valencia, but we have well over £100m in the bank.

“If I went to [joint chairman] Joel Glazer and told him that Alex had identified a player, can we have the money? The answer would be an unequivocal ‘yes’. The Glazers have demonstrated it. We offered e35m for Karim Benzema after just one phone call to the States."

“They said fine and we did it, but he went to Madrid for over e40m. Alex has gone on record as saying that it was too much.” Gill is confident star striker Rooney, whose deal expires in two years this summer, will sign a new contract in the close season.

He said: “Wayne wouldn’t come in one day and say, ‘I want to go, I’m unhappy’. “Ronaldo was something over time. I don’t think Rooney would ever do that.” Gill also claimed reports that Old Trafford would be sold were rubbish.

He said: “There is a sale-and-leaseback opportunity within the bond document that is done for financial and tax planning. “I am 100 per cent convinced it will never happen under the Glazer family.”